[Introduced February 13, 2013; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §15-14-1, §15-14-2
and §15-14-3, all relating to regulation of the use of
Internet by children.Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §15-14-1, §15-14-2 and
§15-14-3, all to read as follows:ARTICLE 14. REGULATION OF USE OF INTERNET BY CHILDREN.
§15-14-1. Definitions.
_____As used in this article:
_____(1) "Child" means a person who is less than eighteen years of
age.
_____(2) "Electronic mail address" means a destination, commonly
expressed as a string of characters, to which electronic mail may
be sent or delivered.
_____(3) "Internet or any other computer network", without
limitations, means:
_____(A) The computer network commonly known as the Internet and
any other local, regional or global computer network that is
similar to or is a predecessor or successor of the Internet;
_____(B) Any identifiable site on the Internet or such other
computer network;
_____(C) A website or other similar site on the World Wide Web;
_____(D) A site that is identifiable through a Uniform Resource
Location;
_____(E) A site on a computer network that is owned, operated,
administered or controlled by a provider of Internet service;
_____(F) A list server;
_____(G) A newsgroup; or
_____(H) A chat room.
_____(4) "Provider of Internet service" or "provider" means any
person, for a fee or other consideration, provides subscribers with
access to the Internet.
_____(5) A person has "reasonable cause to believe" if, in light of
all the surrounding facts and circumstances which are known or
which reasonably should be known to the person at the time, a
reasonable person would believe, under those facts and
circumstances that an act, transaction, event, situation or
condition exists, is occurring or has occurred.§15-14-2. Internet service provider required to provide product or
service to regulate and monitor child's use of _
Internet under certain circumstances.
_____(a) If a provider of Internet service knows or has reasonable
cause to believe that a subscriber resides within West Virginia,
the provider shall make available to the subscriber a product or
service which enables the subscriber to regulate a child's use of
the Internet service provided to the subscriber if such a product
or service is reasonably and commercially available for the
technology utilized by the subscriber to access the Internet
service. The product or service must, subject to such
availability, enable the subscriber to:
_____(1) Block all access to the Internet;
_____(2) Block access to specific websites or domains disapproved
by the subscriber;
_____(3) Restrict access exclusively to specific websites or
domains approved by the subscriber; and
_____(4) Allow the subscriber to monitor a child's use of the
Internet service by providing a report to the subscriber of the
specific websites or domains that the child has visited or has
attempted to visit, but could not access because the websites or
domains were blocked or restricted by the subscriber.
_____(b) For the purposes of subsection (a) of this section, a provider of Internet service is deemed to know that a subscriber
resides within West Virginia if the subscriber identifies West
Virginia as his or her place of residence at the time of
subscription.
_____(c) If a product or service described in subsection (a) of
this section is reasonably and commercially available for the
technology utilized by the subscriber to access the Internet
service, the provider of Internet service:
_____(1) Shall provide to the subscriber, at the time of
subscription, notice of the availability of the product or service
described in subsection (a) of this section. The notice shall be
provided to the subscriber by electronic mail or in a written form
through another reasonable means.
_____(2) May make the product or service described in subsection
(a) available to the subscriber either directly or through a
third-party vendor. The provider or third-party vendor may charge
the subscriber a fee for the product or service.§15-14-3. Violation constitutes deceptive trade practice;
institution of civil penalties.
_____(a) Any violation of this article by a provider constitutes a
deceptive trade practice and is punishable by institution of a
civil penalty, payable to the Department of Health and Human
Resources, in the amount of $2,000 for each day the provider violates this article.
_____(b) The Attorney General may bring an action against a
provider to recover the money. Prior to bringing suit, the
Attorney General shall give the provider notice of the provider's
noncompliance with this article and the liability. If the provider
complies with this article, not later than thirty days after the
date of notice, the violation is cured and the provider is not
liable for a civil penalty.
_____(c) If a civil penalty is enforced it may not exceed $60,000.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate the use of the
Internet by children. Adopting rules that call for Internet
providers to provide parents with Internet blocking software.